Bibliography of the American Civil War


The bibliography of the American Civil War comprises books that deal in large part with the American Civil War. In 2001, historian Jonathan Sarna had estimated that there were over 50,000 books on the war, with 1,500 more appearing every year. Authors James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier stated in 2012, "No event in American history has been so thoroughly studied, not merely by historians, but by tens of thousands of other Americans who have made the war their hobby. Perhaps a hundred thousand books have been published about the Civil War."
There is no complete bibliography to the war; the largest guide to books is more than 50 years old and lists over 6,000 of the most valuable titles as evaluated by three leading scholars. Many specialized topics such as Abraham Lincoln, women, and medicine have their own lengthy bibliographies. The books on major campaigns typically contain their own specialized guides to the sources and literature. The most comprehensive guide to the historiography annotates over a thousand major titles, with an emphasis on military topics. The most recent guide to literary and non-military topics is A History of American Civil War Literature edited by Coleman Hutchison. It emphasizes cultural studies, memory, diaries, southern literary writings, and famous novelists.

Causes of the war

  • Ashworth, John. Slavery, Capitalism, and Politics in the Antebellum Republic. Cambridge, England and New York: Cambridge University Press, 1995.
  • Ayers, Edward L. What Caused the Civil War? Reflections on the South and Southern History. New York: W. W. Norton, 2005.
  • Boritt, Gabor S., ed. Why the Civil War Came. New York, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996..
  • Broadwater, Robert P. Did Lincoln and the Republican Party Create the Civil War?: An Argument. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc., 2008..
  • Calore, Paul. The Causes of the Civil War: The Political, Cultural, Economic, and Territorial Disputes between North and South. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Co., 2008.
  • Donald, David Herbert "An Excess of Democracy: The Civil War and the Social Process" in David Herbert Donald, Lincoln Reconsidered: Essays on the Civil War Era, 2d ed. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1966, pp. 209–235.
  • Egnal, Marc. Clash of Extremes: The Economic Origins of the Civil War. New York: Hill and Wang, 2009.
  • Grant, Susan-Mary. North Over South: Northern Nationalism and American Identity in the Antebellum Era. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2000.
  • Helper, Hinton Rowan. The Impending Crisis of the South: How to Meet It. New York: Burdock Brothers, 1857.
  • Holt, Michael F. The Political Crisis of the 1850s. New York: Wiley, 1978.
  • Levine, Bruce. Half Slave and Half Free: The Roots of the Civil War, New York: Hill and Wang, 1992; revised ed., New York: Hill and Wang, 2005.
  • Link, William A. Roots of Secession: Slavery and Politics in Antebellum Virginia. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2003.
  • Olsen, Christopher J. Political Culture and Secession in Mississippi: Masculinity, Honor, and the Antiparty Tradition, 1830–1860, 2000.
  • Potter, David M. completed and edited by Don E. Fehrenbacher The Impending Crisis: America Before the Civil War, 1848 - 1861. New York: Harper Perennial, reprint 2011. First published New York, Harper Colophon, 1976..
  • Schoen, Brian. The Fragile Fabric of Union: Cotton, Federal Politics, and the Global Origins of the Civil War. Baltimore, Maryland: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2009.
  • Stampp, Kenneth M. America in 1857: A Nation on the Brink. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1990.

    Secession

  • Adams, Charles. When in the Course of Human Events: Arguing the Case for Southern Secession. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield, 2000.
  • Bledose, Alfred T. Is Davis a Traitor; or Was Secession a Constitutional Right Previous to the War in 1861?. Baltimore, Maryland: Innes and the author, 1866.
  • Dew, Charles B. Apostles of Disunion: Southern Secession Commissioners and the Causes of the Civil War. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 2001.
  • Mississippi Secession Convention. Journal of the State Convention and Ordinances and Resolution Adopted in January 1861, with an Appendix. Jackson, Mississippi: E. Barksdale, 1861.
  • Potter, David M. Lincoln and His Party in the Secession Crisis. New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press. .
  • Sitterson, Joseph Carlyle. The Secession Movement in North Carolina. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1939.
  • Stampp, Kenneth M. And the War Came: The North and the Secession Crisis, 1860–1861. 1950.
  • Wakelyn, Jon L., editor. Southern Pamphlets on Secession, November 1860 – April 1861. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1996.

    American Civil War battles and campaigns

Naval history

  • Anderson, Bern. By Sea and By River: The Naval History of the Civil War. New York: Da Capo Press, 1989.
  • Bennett, Michael J. Union Jacks: Yankee Sailors in the Civil War. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2004.
  • Block, W.T. Schooner Sail to Starboard: The U.S. Navy vs. Blockade Runners in the Western Gulf of Mexico. College Station, Texas: Institute of Nautical Archaeology, 2007.
  • Bradlee, Francis. Blockade Running During the Civil War. Salem, Massachusetts: Essex Institute Press, 1959.
  • Browning, Jr., Robert M. From Cape Charles to Cape Fear: The North Atlantic Blockading Squadron During the Civil War. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 1993..
  • Browning, Jr., Robert M. Success Is All That Was Expected: The South Atlantic Blockading Squadron in the Civil War. Washington, D.C.: Brassey's Inc., 2002.
  • Campbell, R. Thomas. Academy on the James: The Confederate Naval School. Shippensburg, Pennsylvania: Burd Street Press, 1998.
  • Campbell, R. Thomas. . Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Co., 2005..
  • —— Fire and Thunder: Exploits of the Confederate States Navy. Shippensburg, Pennsylvania: Burd Street Press, 1997..
  • —— Gray Thunder: Exploits of the Confederate States Navy. Shippensburg, Pennsylvania: Burd Street Press, 1996..
  • —— Southern Fire: Exploits of the Confederate States Navy. Shippensburg, Pennsylvania: Burd Street Press, 1997..
  • Carr, Dawson. Gray Phantoms of the Cape Fear: Running the Civil War Blockade. Winston-Salem, North Carolina: John F. Blair, 1998..
  • Carse, Robert. Blockade: The Civil War at Sea. New York: Rinehart & Co., 1950.
  • Chaffin, Tom. The H. L. Hunley: The Secret Hope of the Confederacy. New York: Hill and Wang, 2008..
  • Chatelain, Neil P. Defending the Arteries of Rebellion: Confederate Naval Operations in the Mississippi River Valley, 1861–1865. Savas Beatie, 2020..
  • Coombe, Jack D. Gunfire Around the Gulf: The Last Major Naval Campaign of the Civil War. New York: Bantam Books, 1999.
  • Cochran, Hamilton. Blockade Runners of the Confederacy. Indianapolis, Indiana: Bobbs-Merrill Co., 1957.
  • Conrad, James Lee. Rebel Reefers: The Organization and Midshipmen of the Confederate States Naval Academy. New York: Da Capo Press, 2003.
  • Coski, John M. Capital Navy: The Men, Ships, and Operations of the James River Squadron. Campbell, California: Savas Woodbury Publishers, 1996.
  • Coski, John M. The Confederate Navy. Richmond, Virginia: The Museum of the Confederacy, 2005.
  • Cracknell, William H. United States Navy Monitors of the Civil War Windsor, England: 1973.
  • deKay, James T. Monitor. 1997.
  • Donnelly, Ralph W. The Confederate States Marine Corps: The Rebel Leathernecks. Shippensburg, Pennsylvania: White Mane Publishing Company, Inc., 1989..
  • Dougherty, Kevin J. Ships of the Civil War, 1861–1865: An Illustrated Guide to the Fighting Vessels of the Union and the Confederacy. London: Amber Books, Ltd., 2013..
  • Dougherty, Kevin J. Strangling the Confederacy: Coastal Operations in the American Civil War. Savas Beatie, LLC, 2012..
  • Ericson, Peter. Running the Batteries. LULU Press, 2009.
  • Fowler, William M. Under Two Flags: The American Navy in the Civil War. Naval Institute Press, 1990.
  • Gosnell, H. Allen. Guns on the Western Waters: The Story of River Gunboats in the Civil War Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1949.
  • Graham, Eric J. Clyde Built: Blockade Runners, Cruisers and Armoured Rams of the American Civil War. Edinburgh: Birlinn Press, 2006.
  • Hall, Andrew W. Civil War Blockade Running on the Texas Coast. Charleston, South Carolina: The History Press, 2014..
  • Hearn, Chester G. Gray Raiders of the Sea: How Eight Confederate Warships Destroyed the Union's High Seas Commerce. Camden, Maine: International Marine Publishing, 1992.
  • Hoyt, Edwin P. The Voyage of the Hunley: The Chronicle of the Pathbreaking Confederate Submarine. Short Hills, New Jersey: Burford Books..
  • Joiner, Gary D. Mr. Lincoln's Brown Water Navy: The Mississippi Squadron. Rowman & Littlefield, 2007.
  • Jones, Virgil Carington. The Civil War At Sea. New York: Holt, Rinehart, Winston, 1962.
  • Joyner, Elizabeth Hoxie and Margie Riddle Bearss. The USS Cairo: History and Artifacts of a Civil War Gunboat. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Co., 2006.
  • Lardas, Mark. CSS Alabama vs. USS Kearsage: Cherbourg 1864. New York: Osprey, 2011..
  • Luraghi, Raimondo. A History of the Confederate Navy. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1996..
  • Merrill, James M. The Rebel Shore. 1957.
  • Musicant, Ivan. Divided Waters: The Naval History of the Civil War. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1995..
  • Page, Dave. Ships Versus Shore: Civil War Engagements Along Southern Shores and Rivers. Rutledge Hill Press, 1994.
  • Porter, David Dixon. The Naval History of the Civil War. Secaucus, New Jersey: Castle, 1984.
  • Ragan, Mark K. Union and Confederate Submarine Warfare in the Civil War. Campbell, California: Savas Publishing, 1999.
  • Roberts, William H. Now for the Contest: Coastal and Oceanic Naval Operations in the Civil War. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2004.
  • Silverstone, Pal H. Warships of the Civil War Navies. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1989.
  • Smith, Jr., Myron J. The Timberclads in the Civil War: The Lexington, Conestoga and Tyler on the Western Waters. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland Publishing, 2008..
  • Smith, Jr., Myron J. Tinclads in the Civil War: Union Light–Draught Gunboat Operations on Western Waters, 1862–1865. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, 2009..
  • Sprunt, James. Tales of the Cape Fear Blockade. Wilmington, North Carolina: Cornelius Thomas, 1960.
  • Still, Jr., William. Confederate Shipbuilding. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 2003.
  • Still Jr., William, John M. Taylor, and Norman C. Delaney. Raiders & Blockaders: The American Civil War Afloat. Washington, D.C.: Brassey's Inc., 1998..
  • Sullivan, David M. The United States Marine Corps in the Civil War – The First Year. Shippensburg, Pennsylvania: White Mane Publishing Company, 1997..
  • Sullivan, David M. The United States Marine Corps in the Civil War – The Second Year. Shippensburg, Pennsylvania: White Mane Publishing Company, 1997..
  • Sullivan, David M. The United States Marine Corps in the Civil War – The Third Year. Shippensburg, Pennsylvania: White Mane Publishing Company, 1998..
  • Sullivan, David M. The United States Marine Corps in the Civil War – The Fourth Year. Shippensburg, Pennsylvania: White Mane Publishing Company, 2000..
  • Surdam, David G. Northern Naval Superiority and the Economics of the American Civil War. University of South Carolina Press, 2001.
  • Symonds, Craig. Lincoln and His Admirals: Abraham Lincoln, the U.S. Navy, and the Civil War. Oxford University Press.
  • Taafe, Stephen R. Commanding Lincoln's Navy: Union Naval Leadership During the Civil War. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 2009.
  • Tucker, Spencer C., editor The Civil War Naval Encyclopedia, two volumes. Santa Barbara, California: ABC–CLIO, 2011..
  • Tucker, Spencer C. A Short History of the Civil War at Sea. Wilmington, Delaware: SR Books, 2001.
  • Underwood, Rodman L. Waters of Discord: The Union Blockade of Texas During the Civil War. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Co., 2003.
  • U.S. Department of the Navy, Naval History Division, compiler. Civil War Naval Chronology 1861–1865. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1971.
  • Van Tillburg, Hans. A Civil War Gunboat in Pacific Waters: Life on Board the USS Saginaw. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2010..
  • Walker, Sally M. Secrets of A Civil War Submarine: Solving the Mysteries of the H.L. Hunley. Minneapolis, Minnesota: Carolrhoda Books, Inc., 2005.
  • Wise, Stephen R. Lifeline of the Confederacy: Blockade Running During the Civil War. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1988.
  • Wynne, Nick and Joe Crankshaw. Florida Civil War Blockades: Battling for the Coast. Charleston, South Carolina: The History Press, 2011..